Cosmetic products in stick form, such as lipstick, have been manufactured for many years by a variety of molding processes and equipment. Of particular interest is Ferentzy U.S. Pat. No. 2,192,675, which discloses an apparatus and method of manufacturing lipstick products. The apparatus includes a metal mold that forms a gang of lipsticks. The mold includes a lower section, which forms the bodies of the lipstick products, and an upper section, which forms the butt ends of the lipstick bodies. The lower section contains three rows of cavities. Each cavity is cylindrical or tapered slightly. The lower section can be split lengthwise for cleaning purposes. The upper section is provided with a plurality of apertures. When the upper section is mounted on top of the lower section, the apertures in the upper section align with the cavities in the lower section. The apparatus also includes a work table having a conveyor belt that transports the mold to different stations. These stations include a filling station, a cooling station, a disassembly and fitting station and a heating station. To manufacture lipstick in accordance with the Ferentzy patent, a cosmetic melt is discharged onto the upper section of the mold and allowed to flow down into the cavities provided in the lower section of the mold. After the cavities have been filled, excess cosmetic melt is removed from the upper section of the mold. Next, at the cooling station, the cosmetic melt contained in the mold is cooled and solidified. Once the melt contained within the mold has solidified into a plurality of lipsticks, the upper section of the mold is removed, thereby exposing the butt ends of the lipstick products. A plurality of lipstick holders fitted to a centering frame are lowered and pressed onto the exposed butt ends of the lipstick products. As the centering frame is raised, the lipstick products are withdrawn from the mold. Finally, at the heating station, the lipstick products are heat glazed to remove the defects caused by their removal from the mold.
As noted above, the Ferentzy mold is made of metal. A cosmetic mold made of metal is desirable because metal provides a good conductor of heat and, therefore, removes heat from the cosmetic melt. Furthermore, metal molds are structurally strong to permit handling and provide an extended life, and their molding surfaces can be polished to enhance release of solidified cosmetic product. However, there are disadvantages to a metal mold. Metal is expensive. Further, a metal mold is heavy, and can be difficult to fabricate.